Roman Letters

Letter 5038

Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)→Unknown|gregory great
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Gregory to Elias [of Isauria], priest and abbot.

I have received the most welcome letter from your Holiness, in which you have satisfied me that I should not be saddened that you did not come to the threshold of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles [i.e., Rome], as I had wished. Indeed, I very much wanted to see you; but if bodily illness or the impediment of age prevented it, this is enough for me — that wherever your Holiness may be, you pray earnestly on my behalf, because even though we are separated in body by distance, we are always united in love.

We have sent the Gospels as you requested. As for your son Epiphanius [a monk under Elias's care], you asked that we should advance him to holy orders and send him back to you. In the first matter we heard you; in the second, however, we could not comply. He has indeed been made a deacon, but whoever once receives holy orders in this Church [the Roman Church] no longer has permission to leave it. If, then, I could not see you in person, I take consolation from this: that I find rest in your son.

Now, regarding the money — you wanted fifty solidi [gold coins] sent to you for the needs of your monastery. Thinking this was too much, you gave ten of them back to us, so that we would send only forty. And lest even that might be too burdensome for us, you were kind enough to return still more from the total. But since we have found you so very generous in your consideration for us, we respond to that generosity in kind. We have sent fifty, and lest perhaps that be too little, we added another ten on top. And lest even that still be too little, we had another twelve joined to the sum [totaling seventy-two solidi].

In this we recognize your love, because you presume upon us just as you ought to presume. But I beg you, by Almighty God, that you offer constant prayers on my behalf, so that I may be swiftly freed from the sins that bind me and the tribulations that weigh me down, and may enjoy the joys of our heavenly homeland. What you indicated in your letters about how you pray for me — know that it greatly relieved me. But now, after my request, do even more than you were already doing even without my asking.

As for the aforementioned Epiphanius, my most beloved son, now a deacon — because we have bound him to this Church through the diaconate, your Holiness should not be saddened. Rather, consider that since you yourself cannot come in person because of bodily weakness, through your son you serve blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, and you will enjoy the reward of heavenly recompense.

May the Holy Trinity guard you with its protection, and in the wilderness of this present life shield you from enemies that pursue from behind and those that block the way ahead — so that it may forgive whatever past sins are yours, and by the hand of its mercy remove from your path those dangers that still lie before you. May the Trinity itself lead you, bring you safely through, and receive you into eternal joy. May it grant you to attain the lot of the elect, and to pray for me, a sinner, that I may deserve to be absolved.

Given in the month of June, in the thirteenth indiction [June 595 AD].

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

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